Arts & Entertainment
Disney accused of censoring gay kiss in video game trailer
The company says censorship was meant for violence
(Screenshot via YouTube)
People are accusing Disney of censoring a gay kiss between two female video game characters in the trailer for the video game “The Last of Us Part II.”
Disney XD, Disney’s gaming-focused channel, broadcast the E3 Electronic Gaming Expo in partnership with IGN. The broadcast included the trailer for “The Last of Us Part II” which features two female characters kissing. The kiss did air but according to the Verge, the original kiss lasts for several seconds longer than was shown.
YouTube user Richard Crosby uploaded a video of Disney XD’s broadcast showing the shortened kiss. After the characters lock lips the trailer is replaced with an IGN screen.
According to a Disney spokesperson, the scene was cut short not because of the kiss but because of violent scenes after the kiss. Violent scenes throughout the broadcast were blurred on Disney XD.
“The Disney XD policy does not allow for gratuitous violence in programming that children may be viewing. During the channel’s General Audience, DX|P-branded programming from the E3 gaming conference yesterday, telecast editors omitted content that did not meet our policy standards, including several seconds of an animated video game scene that began with a kiss, but ended with a knife attack in which a character’s throat was slashed. Only the latter, violent portion of the scene was not televised from the event,” the statement reads.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Trone discusses transgender niece
200 turn out for ’Love Fest’ Drag Story Hour at Freddie’s
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Another successful Taste of Point fundraiser
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Pride journey: Las Vegas
It’s game, set, and mismatch in unfulfilling ‘Challengers’
Brittney Griner considered suicide in Russian prison
